Finding it hard to get in the Halloween spirit in this 80-plus
degree weather? Take a stroll down Severinsen Street in Hollister,
where residents have been creating crypts, haunts and nightmares on
their front lawns for more than 10 years.
Finding it hard to get in the Halloween spirit in this 80-plus degree weather? Take a stroll down Severinsen Street in Hollister, where residents have been creating crypts, haunts and nightmares on their front lawns for more than 10 years.
“We do it for our own kids, and for the kids of the community,” said Carol King, whose own house is adorned with undead pirates. “It’s just fun.”
Severinsen Street residents have raised the act of decorating for the holidays to a high art, spending thousands of dollars and countless hours decking out their homes for passers by.
An early afternoon stroll through the neighborhood reveals a house with a giant “Black Pearl” pirate ship in the driveway and a large haunted house, a porch with a collection of life-sized horror movie stars such as Freddy Krueger, and another house infested with spiders of all shapes and sizes, overrun with grey and green cobwebs. Piles of leaves on the street and sidewalk add a satisfying ‘crunch’ to your step and – in all honesty – the entire block smelled like pumpkin spice cookies on Thursday afternoon.
“I have 27 different spiders, I think,” said Connie Cooklin, who was in the middle of printing out flyers for a neighborhood pumpkin carving contest. “I have a day care, so I wanted something fun but not too spooky.”
Roughly half the the homes on the block were decorated yesterday, but neighbors were quick to point out that many residents like to wait until just before or the morning of Halloween to bring out their decorations.
“We have one house where they have a gorilla in a cage, and the cage is on wheels and follows you around,”King said. “And there’s a man who brings out a ’57 Chevy and has a man dressed as the Devil to drive it.”
Residents says that Halloween evening on their street looks more like a theme park than suburbia.
“It’s just like when you go to the fair, you’re walking shoulder to shoulder with everybody – parents really have to watch their kids because it’s easy for them to get lost,” said Cooklin. “We spend $100 or $200 on candy every year and we’re still all out by 8:30 or 9.”
Despite the time and expense – residents reported spending between $1,000 and $2,000 as they added decorations over the years – those who live on Severinsen Street say the annual festivities bring them closer together.
“This is a great street to live on – you know each other, you borrow stuff, you can just visit and have a glass of wine and look at everybody’s houses together,” Cooklin said. “We’re happy to be here.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
